Wedding Bands
by hippogriff-tamer
Summary: A few months after being married Stephanie and Ranger learn that they each have a unconscious response when they are thinking about the other...


_**A/N **It's been a while since I last wrote a Babe story. I had some writer's block unfortunately. I hope that you'll enjoy it. I would also like to thank my friend, **Astrid Mikaelson**, for looking over this story for me. _

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't own any of the recognizable characters or places..._

* * *

Stephanie twisted the white gold band around her finger thinking of him as she sat in her newest car, a Ford. She had just dropped her latest skip off at the police station.

"Are you thinking about Ranger again?" her friend and sometimes partner Lula asked.

She turned towards her. "Why would you ask that?'

"You always twist your wedding band when you're thinking of him."

"Huh, I didn't realize that I was doing it," she answered separating her hands.

Lula was watching her. "Can we get outta here. This place gives me the creeps."

"Okay, we're going," she said starting the car and pulling out of the lot.

At the next stoplight she wondered aloud, "Do you think Ranger twists his ring too?"

RSRSRS

_Across town…._

The man in question was currently sitting across the table from the Turners, an older couple looking to update the security at the antique store that they owned. It had recently been broken into. His second in command, Tank, who was sitting next to him, nudged his shoulder. Ranger glared at him before returning his attention to their new clients.

"Are you a newlywed?" Mrs. Jackie Turner inquired as she signed the Rangeman paperwork.

He was curious about her question. "Why do you ask?"

"You've been twirling your wedding band for the last few minutes. Jeremy did that the first year we were married."

Jeremy smiled at her. "I wasn't used to the weight."

She hit him on the arm lightly. "That wasn't the only reason and you know it."

"I did it whenever I was thinking of you," he admitted. "You did it too."

"I did," she admitted as well. "Especially when you were away buying new antiques. I missed you."

Jeremy smiled at his wife fondly.

Ranger was thinking of Stephanie and missing her. He was also a bit worried about her since she was out looking for a skip and that usually led to trouble most of the time.

"Stephanie and I have been married for three months," he told the couple. "She's an amazing woman."

Jackie beamed at him. "Aww that's so sweet!"

"How long have you and Mr. Turner been married?"

"Jeremy, please. We've been married for forty-two years but it seems like yesterday."

Ranger knew that if Stephanie had been at the meeting, she'd be hugging the couple with tears in her eyes. He just smiled at them.

They soon started talking business again and by the end of the meeting Rangeman had new clients.

After the Turners left Ranger stopped Tank before they reached the car.

"Why'd you nudge me earlier?' he asked his friend.

"You looked like your thoughts were elsewhere like on a certain brunette who always finds trouble," Tank answered.

Tanks words immediately brought Stephanie to mind and Ranger automatically smiled as he started twisting the black and silver ring that resided on the third finger on his left hand.

Tank pointed to the ring. "That's how I knew you were thinking of Bomber." All of the guys at Rangeman excepting Ranger called Stephanie that nickname.

"Why are you looking at my hand?"

"You twist your ring whenever you're thinking of Stephanie. You were doing it earlier."

"Hmmm I never noticed it."

"I have. You've done it several times in the past couple months."

Ranger grumbled. "Come on we have another meeting to get to."

"You're the boss," Tank told him in amusement.

Ranger just shook his head at him.

_That evening…_

Stephanie arrived home before Ranger. While she waited for her husband, she turned on the news and started watching. When Ranger finally arrived home, he found his wife curled up on the couch sleeping. He found the remote and turned the TV off.

"Hey I was watching that," Stephanie said sleepily, not opening her eyes.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Of course you were."

She hit his thigh which was the easiest part of his body to reach. He took her hand and kissed the back of it in apology.

Stephanie yawned and stretched. "How was your meeting?'

He sat beside her and picked up her feet and put them in his lap. "It went well."

She heard a bit of a hesitation in his voice. "But?"

"I started drifting off in the meeting and both Tank and the clients saw."

"You drifted off? You never do that!" Stephanie declared twisting so that she was looking at Ranger.

"Well, a certain brunette who likes getting into trouble has been occupying my thoughts a lot recently."

Stephanie stuck her tongue out at him over him saying she likes getting into trouble. "That hasn't been a problem before."

"It's not a problem now. But ever since you've become my wife, I can't stop thinking about things I want to do with you."

"Like what?"

Ranger positioned them so that he was laying behind her with Stephanie's back to his front. The new position allowed him to whisper in her ear. The longer he spoke the more flushed Stephanie became until she felt like she was burning. She turned her face and her lips met his effectively cutting off his increasingly dirty words.

Later, after trying multiple positions that Ranger had named, he and Stephanie were laying in bed where she was curled up with her head on his chest.

"So how did you get caught?" she asked him.

"Hmm," Ranger said.

"You said Tank and the clients noticed you drifting off."

"Oh, I was twisting my wedding band. After the meeting, Tank told me that wasn't the first time I had done that."

Stephanie looked up at him and smiled. "Tank talked?"

Ranger smiled and shook his head. "He did. He says I twist my ring when we're apart and I'm thinking of you."

"Actually, Lula said the same thing to me earlier after we dropped off a skip at the police station."

He turned head so he was looking at her. "She did?"

"Yeah, I started thinking about the beach and that made me think about our honeymoon and the day when we went swimming in the small cove that we found."

"The one with the waterfall?"

"Yeah. And I was thinking that it would be nice to go back and recreate that day."

"Any moment in particular?" he wondered.

She moved a little so that she could whisper in his ear like he did earlier.

"We don't have a cove but we do have a big shower," he said before getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom affording her with a very nice view of his naked backside. A minute later Stephanie heard the shower turning on. Ranger returned a couple minutes later and swept her into his arms bridal style.

"Want to see if we can recreate most of those moments you mentioned?" he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

She laughed. "Challenge accepted."


End file.
